While taking my morning walk this morning
, saw this taxi parked outside my home
Casually glanced inside and found a
tablet fixed on the dashboard
Had the taxi not left before I could inquire , I would have liked
to find out if that tablet could do all that I had envisaged in my following
blog
Even if it did not , it is a matter of time before all taxies will
have tablets capable of doing so
06 Feb
2017
Tablets
in Taxies ?
DNA ( 16 May 2016 ) carries following
news-report :
" LMO for apps to replace fare
meters "
In this report , Shri Amitabh Gupta ,
Controller of Legal Metrology Organization ( LMO ) , is quoted as follows :
" There are couple of mobile phone-based applications available on
the internet which can calculate the fare based on distance and waiting time.
If genuine applications are verified by the LMO, then any auto rickshaw
or taxi driver can download it on their phones and then use them.
Since they would be verified by the LMO, there would no question over
the issue of malpractice.
This way, gradually the electric metres would give way to such
applications that appears to be useful and are in line with the latest
technology "
Congratulations , Shri Gupta , for
this initiative !
This is , indeed , good development
and reinforces my following suggestion / blog :
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 14
February 2016 / 15 May 2016
As I observed in my earlier blog ( 05 Feb 2016 ), Theodore Levitt wrote
in his seminal essay," Marketing Myopia " :
If you don't obsolete yourself , someone
else will . So keep asking yourself : What business are we in ?
Levitt gives example of American
Railroads , which failed to ask themselves this question and got obsolete by
American Car manufacturers and American Airlines . No more people wanted to
travel by trains !
Whereas it may take 10/20 years before Car Manufacturers themselves get
obsolete ( by manufacturers of Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality /
Holographic / Hepatic devices and web-services - making travelling unnecessary
) , according to me , taxi-rickshaw Meter Manufacturers are in the danger of
getting obsolete , within the next TWO YEARS !
Expect some Indian Start-Up to come
up with a digital taxi meter ( to be called , DigiMet ? ), resembling a 8" tablet , with a screen on both the sides , visible to both , the driver and the
passenger
DigiMet will be
integrated with :
* GPS based Google Map
* Mobile App ( called , FareCalc ? ) downloaded from the web site of
the Authority fixing " Tariff " ( RTO ? )
Passengers will also need to download / install , FareCalc app on their smart phones
As requested by the passenger , taxi driver will enter the destination
location , in DigiMet
Immediately , DigiMet will display the following routes to the desired destination :
* Shortest route (
distance-wise )
* Fastest route ( time wise ) , taking into account the traffic
conditions on different routes
DigiMet will also
display , the amount of " fares " payable for each route ( also
displaying tariff : Rs per Km )
Now it is the passenger's turn to
select / choose the route that he wants the driver to take
The taxi / rickshaw will start only
thereafter !
At the end of the journey , passenger
will have the options to pay the fare ,
* In cash
* By entering his Credit Card details into the DigiMet , or
* Through his Mobile Wallet ( using NFC ? )
The Mobile App will also need to have
a provision for any " Waiting Time " charges to be added
When the destination is reached , DigiMet will display :
* Distance travelled
* Time taken
* Waiting Time ( if any )
* RTO approved tariff ( Rs per Km )
* Fare amount payable
Any revision in the tariff will get updated automatically in DigiMet as also on the smart phone of passenger
For taxis / rickshaws running on
Hybrid fuel ( producing less Co2 ) or Electric Vehicles ( zero emission ) ,
both , the driver and the passenger will get " Carbon Credits " , which will also get
displayed on the DigiMet as also
on the FareCalc Mobile
App on the smart phone of the passenger ( @ 20 % of the fare payable ? )
THESE AMOUNTS WILL GET TRANSFERRED TO THEIR RESPECTIVE JAN DHAN BANK
ACCOUNTS ( THRU DTB ) , EVERY QUARTER
I suppose some variation of DigiMet /
FareCalc can be introduced in all State Transport buses and intra-city
Municipal buses
I hope , the current manufacturers of
taxi - rickshaw meters are asking themselves :
What business are we in ?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hemenparekh.in / blogs
06 Feb 2017
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